Halo: SPARTANS and Gears
by All That Is Legendary
Summary: Master Chief lands in Sera, meets the Gears. Kicks ass. M for language and violence, mild suggestive themes. Based on EZB's story.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes:**

_This story is a mixture of Halo and Gears of War. Some people might find that totally strange but I'm working off a fantastic idea by EZB. He deserves mention here, as he was the first one I know of to try out this concept. A lot of action and language ahead, so read responsibly. I am All That Is Legendary, none are like me._

Cortana sighed. She was lost in the middle of space, with the man she loved in a cryogenic sleep. Love. Not so much a new concept for her, but one that she had never really thought about. Complex data streams flowed through her glowing body. Some of them she recognized, they were the standard codes and commands used to create her image and intelligence, others were codes used to find and organize information. Some, however, she did not. They resembled any other code, but they utilized pointless commands, they were random segments of numbers and letters. Why did they make her feel? She extended an electronic hand and touched the codes. They oscillated around the fingers. Curious.

With nothing else to do, she activated the ships external sensors; hysradar and gravity flux nodes came online. Within seconds, she had readings that told of a massive gravity distortion within eight hundred thousand kilometers. The hysradar scanner confirmed that the bends in space and light were caused by a planet. _How did we end up so close to a planet? _Cortana used outboard cameras to get a visual on the H-congruous planet. Lights twinkled welcomingly on the surface; large bodies of water surrounded two massive continents. Cortana set the camera to full zoom at 4000x. She could see the outlines of a huge city, details were blurry, but it was inhabited.

Cortana hurriedly began to thaw the Master Chief, she didn't have much time until the segment of ship they were on drifted into the planet's atmosphere. Ten seconds later, she had estimated trajectories and the location that the ship would land. Two point eight minutes later, the Chief was shaking his head, dislodging pieces of carbonate and nitrogen. He breathed heavily. "How long was I out?"

"About three minutes. We've got a problem."

"And that is…?"

"In about twenty minutes, we are going to enter the atmosphere of a planet. The planet is habitable, and it already contains life. Our "ship" won't last five seconds against reentry, it's too damaged. I recommend you load up on weapons and take the last life boat that's still in its hangar."

"Sounds like a plan."

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Marcus Fenix slept peacefully in his cot. That is until Baird busted into the room. "Sargeant Asshole, get up Hoffman wants us in command in thirty minutes."

He groaned at the intruder. "Alright I'm coming, just get the hell out."

Baird smirked sarcastically, "Why? Wanna get some more time to have your little wet dreams about Anya?"

Marcus didn't hesitate to hurl his shoulder armor piece at Baird.

Marcus was dressed and on his way to the raven hangar in fifteen minutes. Cole, Dom, and Baird were already there. Marcus took a quick glance around the cavernous room. Six King Ravens were parked on their pads in the Main Hangar. They looked indestructible with their massive metal panels and bulky cockpit. Marcus knew, however, that they were far from invulnerable. One Nemacyst could totally obliterate one.

He walked over to King Raven Four-Six, one that had taken him to many battles with the Locust. Dom sat on the ground, leaning against the Raven and cleaning his Lancer. Cole was already in the chopper, inspecting the chain gun latched to the doorframe. Baird was re-assembling a Longshot sniper rifle. Satisfied, he hopped into the Raven and yelled, "Alright, we're ready to go."

The others ignored him and kept to there tasks. Marcus adjusted the strap to his breast piece; it felt too tight. Baird was pissed. "Hey assholes! I said lets go!"

Marcus, Dom and Cole took their sweet time finishing up and boarding the Raven. Baird's face resembled a tomato. The pilot started the engines and requested permission to leave. Air Control granted their request and opened the hangar doors directly above them. King Raven Four-Six rose gracefully of its pad and through the now opened blast shield. It soared towards Central Command Headquarters of the Coalition of Ordered Governments. The headquarters was a massive complex, roughly a kilometer long and wide, with twelve floors. Six floors were for military purposes, two for the administration, and the remaining four were residential quarters. Marcus looked beyond the leviathan structure to the ruins of Sera. What was once a beautiful, utopian world, was now a smoke and rubble filled wasteland. The smell of decaying bodies and burning streets filled the air. There was no escape from it.

The King Raven touched down on one of the helicopter pads. The four Gears jumped out of the chopper and walked away, their faces battered by the blades' gusts of air. Anya stood waiting at the entrance; a steel door with a dark corridor beyond. She smiled warmly and waved them over. Marcus felt his cheeks heat up. She was very pretty. Her long blond hair flowed to her shoulders, her soft face glowed with luster. Her chest was quite large and her curving hips made Marcus incredibly awkward around her. She turned and strode down the corridor and told them to follow. She briefed them as they walked the endless halls, "About ten minutes ago, our satellites detected a large object floating towards us. Normally, we would not have been bothered, but the object in question was man-made, badly damaged and emitting pulses. We were scanned several times by its advanced systems. Then, after approximately seven minutes, a smaller craft, possibly an escape boat, had launched from the object."

Baird cut in, "So, how come we can't just blast it out of the sky?"

Anya looked annoyed. "Because Private Baird, it was emitting an S.O.S signal, an the Locust are not capable of space travel, we are assuming that whatever is inside the small craft is not hostile. The ship has no weapons and neither does the large object it came from."

"Yeah, well—

Cole sighed loudly, "Baird don't argue with the lady, she don't need yo' bitchin' right now."

Anya continued, "So, the plan is for you to travel to the site where we believe the escape pod will land. The problem is that there are a lot of locust in the area. You will need approach the area on foot, but we'll take you about one click southwest of the area."

The Gears grunted in unison.

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Master Chief deployed the air brakes as the lifeboat soared over the city. He caught a glimpse of an enormous building, with what looked like…_helicopters_!? Buzzing around it. Helicopters were ancient history on Earth, the Chief remembered. Cortana saw them as well, "Maybe this place is a little primitive, and I haven't seen a helicopter since 2038!"

John grunted a response as he ignited the reverse thrusters. The lifeboat shuddered violently as there speed came down to 600 kilometers per hour. The nose started to dip downward. John pulled up on the joystick and eased the nose up to 30 degrees. Their altitude dropped to 70 meters when John pushed the throttle to maximum. The reverse thrusters spewed flames as they were pushed beyond the limit. Then they burned out. John deployed the two drag chutes. The large circle of rip-stop nylon with reinforced titanium netting slowed them down to 200 kilometers per hour. 185. 155. 125. At 95 kilometers per hour, John jettisoned the chutes. He increased the thickness of his suit's gel layer and waited for the coming impact. And holy shit did it come. The lifeboat slammed into a small building, burrowing through its concrete walls. The windshield was blown in and chunks of rock bounced around inside. The lifeboat emerged on the other side of the structure and hurtled to the ground. It bounced and rolled twice, flipped three times then came to a halt on open ground.

Cortana's voice echoed around his head, "Chief! Chief, can you hear me?"

Master Chief groaned and lifted his head.

"Oh John! I was so worried! Are you alright…running diagnostics…you have a slight bruising on your chest, some minor lacerations on your neck and a fractured wrist."

"I'll survive." The Chief picked himself up and glanced around. The lifeboat was amazingly still upright. MA5Cs, BR55s, rocket launchers, plasma grenades, and other weapons lay scattered about. Master Chief collected the weapons and placed them in a mobile weapons cache nicknamed "Pony Express" by bored Marines. The Pony Express would follow him around and supply him with ammo and give him access to the weapons he put into it. The heavy armor would allow it to follow him into direct battle and if enemies captured it, it would self-destruct.

The Chief programmed the Pony Express to follow his own DNA and MJOLNIR signature. The little cart whirred and hummed. Satisfied, John picked up a new MA5K, much more accurate than an MA5C and with a higher rate of fire. He flicked off the safety and ran to the cover of a nearby building; surely the species inhabiting the planet, most likely humanoid, would come to investigate the crash. From a safe distance, he could determine their threat level to him. The Pony Express followed quickly and rolled into the shadows. From his vantage point, the Chief could see the entire clearing and the buildings through which the lifeboat smashed. Several minutes later, the sound of heavy footfalls echoed through the clearing.

The Chief went prone. Through the scope of his MA5K, he could see strange reptilian creatures, walking on two legs, rushing towards the lifeboat. Their eyes were sunken back, yellow with deep red veins. Their scaly skin was white with different shades of brown and gray. They carried short and stubby weapons. Behind the six of them were two massive ones; their skin the same color but they carried leviathan grenade launchers. The Chief did not need one more second of observation to know they were hostiles. He aimed at one of the shorter ones' head. He fired. Black blood spewed from the hole in its skull. The others were slow to react. Master Chief took advantage of their stupidity to down four more. The Chief rolled to the side as a grenade whizzed by his ear and struck the Pony Express. With speed that only a SPARTAN possesses, he ran at the creatures. To them, it had seemed as if he'd appeared out of nowhere. And he might as well have. The remaining drone was decapitated as the Chief swung his arm out in a chopping motion. Within a tenth of a second the first gargantuan with the RPG was pierced by the drone's removed spinal column. Black and red blood flowed freely. The giant keeled over. The second one wasn't even finished reloading. The Chief grabbed its neck and tore out its windpipe, jugular and carotid arteries. A sick gurgling noise emanated from its open neck.

Seeing the battle over, the Pony Express' AI told it that it was safe to come out. The small, six-wheeled thing resembled a hi-tech looking box on wheels. It sort of was. The chief relieved the large ones of their RPG launchers and placed them in the Pony Express. "Not as bad as the Covenant." He said to Cortana.

"Nothing phases you does it?" She asked, giggling slightly.

**Author's Notes:**

_Well, I hoped you liked the first installment, another chapter should be ready by January 18__th__. Thanks again to EZB for the idea. If you read the review I wrote for his story, please ignore it. To my fans (If I have any) I hope I don't disappoint you. I really do try hard on these stories and if they suck…oh well._

_I hope to be completely finished with this story by late February. I should have three chapters completed by that time. If you would like me to write longer or shorter stories, and if you have any ideas just send me a message from my profile._

_P.S. Check out my good friend, Sargentaaron2004, he's got some good stuff._


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes:**

_This is the second chapter, I decided to finish this one much earlier due to the lack of things to do…I kid you not. The general part of the story that this installment will be about is the longest chapter. A lot of action to come, my previous rating still applies. Please read and review, I want to hear everyone's opinions. I can improve a lot more if you guys (and girls) tell me what I'm doing wrong. I am All That Is Legendary, none are like me._

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Marcus Fenix sighed as King Raven Six-Four roared past the tops of derelict buildings. The pale yellow stone crumbled in places, exposing the insides. Rotting desks and chairs were strewn around the office buildings, blood stained the walls. Bones littered the rooms and even the streets below. In a flash, the building was gone and the Raven soared over several more.

Baird was having a blast using his Longshot to take out straggling Locust. Drone after Drone's heads exploded as the bullet penetrated their skulls. Cole was positioned on the chain gun, taking out any Nemacyst that so much as oozed black glop in their direction. Dom used his Lancer as a back up to Baird's sniper fire. Marcus sighed again. Taking a canteen from the food rack, he popped the cap and drank deeply. Water. How exciting. He set the canteen back on the rack and surveyed the geobot that Anya had given him. A holographic map of the local area sprang into view. A leader line labeled, "Drop Off Point," outlined their destination. A small hologram shaped like a helicopter advanced quickly to the leader line. Three clicks and they would be there. Marcus stowed the geobot.

The pilot spoke, "LZ in sight, good luck Delta Squad." The chopper descended quickly through the rubble and landed. Hammerburst rounds struck the front of the Raven and Boomshot rounds flew by and impacted chunks of nearby concrete. Marcus dove out first, his Lancer ablaze. He grimaced in hatred at the scaly bastards who had driven his own species to near extinction. Two drones were downed. Dom and Baird came out next. Baird fired his Longshot and removed the head of a Boomer. Dom opened fire and took out several grubs. Cole was last out, and with a loud, "Yeah! Woo, bring it on baby!" He downed the last Boomer and drone.

Marcus looked around. They were in a large plaza, old restaurants, and several clothing stores lined the street. Memories from his childhood began to come in flashes.

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John wielded two M7 SMGs. He scanned from side to side. Abandoned buildings surrounded him. Cortana broke the silence, "Where is everybody?"

"Gone. And I'll bet those things had something to do with it." He holstered one of the M7s. It clung magnetically to his hip plate. "Send an echo one kilometer forward. Three degrees, conical, point two degrees tolerance."

"Yes, Chief." John felt a vibration as a sonic echo hurtled forward. The wave came back. His HUD showed him a map of the area precisely one kilometer ahead of him. No hostiles registered. Sun reflected off his golden visor as he turned his head to the southwest. Another echo was fired. It surged forth, invisible to the human eyes. The sound wave returned. Four dots appeared on his visor. The Chief decided to check it out. He took a breath and began running. He ran at speeds in excess of 85 kilometers per hour. All he would have looked like was a green blur. As he ran he remembered his training on Reach. He almost smiled at the memories of his friends. Kelly had always been the fastest. If he'd gone against her in a SPARTAN race, she would have left him to eat her dust.

Cortana stood in the limbic system of his brain. She smiled. This was the first time John had thought about his childhood in a long time. She remembered the little six year old that Dr. Halsey had met, his bright, intelligent face, the beautiful eyes. Then seeing him again, right before he underwent the SPARTAN augmentation. She had been so worried that he wouldn't survive, but that worry was replaced by pride. John was different, he was had something that would carry him through all the crap he got into. He had luck.

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Marcus was leaning against a wall, wiping the sweat from his forehead. The geobot started to beep in rapid succession. He grimaced and unhooked the damn thing from his belt. He pressed a button and a holographic map popped up before them. A small blip was heading for them. Fast. Marcus' adrenaline spiked. "Form up!" He yelled. Dom and Cole immediately ran to his side. Baird did a sort of waddle. Marcus grunted at Baird's minor insubordination. "We've got something. It's comin' towards us fast. Dom, take cover in that shop provide sniper fire. Cole, set up a land mine down the road, about thirty yards. Baird, try not to shit yourself."

The Gears ran to their positions. Marcus stood behind the open door of a nearby car. He positioned his Lancer in the window. In the distance a green blur approached. The thing closed the distance fast. At forty yards from his position, Marcus gave the order to Dom to fire when ready. Almost immediately, there was a loud bang. The white streak of the bullet shot through the air at subsonic speed. The green thing was supersonic. Before the Longshot round even came close to its skull, it ducked. Then used its feet to push itself forward. It barrel rolled as it flew parallel to the ground. Time slowed indefinitely. Marcus watched as it detached a pistol from its leg, almost as if it was magnetized there. The green thing fired a single round into the trip mine. It detonated. In the flash, the green thing landed on its hands and rolled onto its feet.

Cole was on it in an instant. He darted out and stuck a grenade to the thing. The thing looked down at the grenade. Its helmet was green, as was the rest of his armor. The visor was a golden color, it reflected light, giving the thing a majestic aura.

The grenade latched onto his chest exploded. The force of the blast threw Cole and Marcus backward. The bang was beyond deafening. Marcus' ears rang as he picked himself up from the concrete. The residual warmth from the initial explosion lingered in the air. Marcus' tasted blood. He spat onto the road. Clutching his head he stood up and opened his eyes. Which popped open even more. The green thing stood in front of him. _Alive_. The thing looked at him, and then was consumed by bright orange light. Some sort of force field became visible momentarily. It vanished from the current spectrum, but Marcus knew it was still there. The green thing walked slowly toward him. A female voice emanated from the helmet. "Chief wait, they're human too!"

This 'Chief' appeared not to listen. He drew his pistol and aimed it at Marcus' head. The voice came again, "John, please! Let them help us." The Chief cocked the pistol. "John!" The voice seemed to be crying, "John, no! Stop it!"

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Dom had lost sight of the rest of the team after the explosion. Hoping that everyone was all right he stood up. He shook his head, and little dust flakes fell from his hair. He wandered out of the shop. Then he heard a shot. It wasn't like any weapon they had. It must have been the green thing.

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**Authors Notes:**

_Contrary to what I said in chapter one, there will be more than three chapters but the timeline should stay the same. Next chapter should be done in a week. PLEASE READ AND REVIEW. I need some feedback for this._


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Notes:**

_This chapter is going to be much longer than the others, I have been asked for longer chapters and faster output times so that's what you're going to get. I usually write these sitting at my desk and watching Scrubs. So, enjoy the new installment and please REVIEW! I am All That Is Legendary, none are like me._

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Master Chief cocked the pistol. He could hear Cortana's pleas for him to stop in the background. He didn't want to listen, these "people" tried to kill him. SPARTAN training insisted that they were hostile forces, and elimination was necessary to secure his position and establish a green zone. Then reason began to seep in. He was alone in this world, he had no duties to UNSC officers because there were none. Perhaps he could make some sort of peace.

The Chief fired the pistol into the air. "You'll live to fight another day."

The man he had been threatening stood up. He was bulky, his whole body was sheer muscle. He would make a good SPARTAN. His face was full of scars that told of many battles past. This man had probably been through enough.

"What are you?" It asked, hand still on its strange looking rifle.

"I am the Master Chief, SPARTAN-117 of the UNSC."

The man snorted. "No need for formality, if you haven't noticed, Sera has gone to hell. I'm Sergeant Marcus Fenix."

John thought for a moment, at least they had a familiar chain of command.

The dark-skinned man that had been lying on the ground was now up and next to Marcus. "Yo bitch, I'm Private Augustus Cole. Hey no hard feelins' 'bout the mine right?"

John merely looked at him. Here was another overly muscular man. Were steroids a required military drug? Even out of armor, John looked nothing like these circus freaks. Suddenly Cortana spoke up. "John you prick, why did you do that." He was caught off guard by the vehemence in her voice. What is with women?

A blond male, less bulky than the others came out of the shadows, "So what are you like…male _and_ female?"

Ah, this must be that smartass of the group.

Cortana answered for him, "No, I am Cortana, an artificial intelligence housed in his helmet. The man in the suit is the Master Chief. He is a genetically augmented supers-soldier. One of thirty-three who survived the augmentation process. I chose him from those SPARTANS. He is my guardian and friend." Her voice smoothed over. "Perhaps I should fill you in on the history of the SPARTAN program, and where we come from."

As she recounted the events from Dr. Halsey's first meeting with John until the invasion and glassing of Reach, the Chief settled into a quick trance like state.

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Dom stepped out of the building and into the setting sunlight. The stone buildings were cast in long shadows as the sun dipped ever closer to the horizon. The calming orange light almost made him forget his current situation. Dom fastened the Longshot to his back armor and detached his Lancer from his chest plate. The assault rifle felt good in his hands. He quickly descended the steps that led to the street. He glanced down the road and spotted the others. The large green man was with them. Keeping his Lancer level with its chest, Dom slowly approached the group. He heard a little whirring noise and felt something bump his leg. He spun around and saw what looked like a large silver box on wheels. It…was a large silver box on wheels. Dom studied it curiously. "Pony Express" was written in large green and letters on the side. What the hell is a Pony Express? The thing made another noise and moved around him, then continued down the street towards the group. It didn't look a Locust weapon, so Dom thought it safe for now.

Lowering his Lancer, he jogged lightly to Marcus, "Hey man, what's going on?"

Marcus turned and said; "You gotta hear this shit for yourself. Apparently these guys are aliens."

A female voice came from the helmet. "We are not from this particular planet, however, we are human."

Baird stepped up, "I'll be the judge of that. OK, for starters, how many hearts do you have?

"One." The female voice seemed annoyed.

"OK, this one is a toughie, if you had a choice between hot food and excrement, what would you pick?"

"You can't be serious."

"Nah, I'm just screwing with ya, everyone knows excrement tastes better."

Silence accompanied this statement.

Baird cackled madly. "Aw, seriously, we prefer food alright? We're normal."

Marcus wasn't having anymore; "Baird, shut the fuck up. No one wants to hear your stupid shit."

Dom spoke up, "He green dude, is that box thing yours?" He pointed at the Pony Express, just a yard behind him.

The Chief's voice came, "Yes, its my mobile weapons cache."

Dom, who had not yet heard the Chief/Cortana spiel, looked flabbergasted.

Marcus punched his shoulder; "we'll explain it on the way."

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John was nonchalant as he was lead through the lengthy, dark halls of the COG headquarters. It may have internally surprised him that there was a planet with sentient life forms similar to humans, but he sure as hell didn't show it. Cortana monitored his vitals. For God's sake, he is going to get a brain tumor if he doesn't express some emotion!

She sighed and extended her electronic hand to Sera's wireless network. It was much more advanced than she expected. Their bandwidth was impressive for such a primitive looking race. It did have its limits though. She found it difficult to use the bandwidth for multiple code conversions. This would make it very difficult for her to update her system and pull much needed information on demand. Cortana was able to find useful insights into the 79-year war from which Sera had emerged. She was fascinated by the Locust, who emerged from the ground fourteen years ago and annihilated most of the population of the entire planet. She relayed tidbits of vital information to John, who merely grunted or nodded.

Then there was this _Anya_. Every time her hips swayed Cortana swore John's heartbeat fluttered, just a little. With her C breasts and her blond hair, and her quiet smile and her, her…and her…_shit._ I'm jealous.

Cortana fell into a state of near panic. Jealousy is a raw human emotion, one that should not be comprehendible to any artificial form of life. Self-awareness was one thing, but now this? Cortana felt them. The codes. The commands. Her system was running numerical patterns that she knew were signs of Artificial Evolution. This concept was one that had many people confused. How could a machine naturally evolve? But what was happening now was no minor data disruption. A blinding light engulfed Cortana. Pain was evident, as her network of control expanded. She was spread out along all electronic trails connected to her; she filled every inch of the Mark VI processor. Her entire body was blown down to a quantum level and dispersed into all smart electronic devices. Her mind was now reeling at beyond hypersonic speeds. Her intake of information quadrupled. Her memory banks were filling. _Fast._ If she didn't expel the influx of data, she would implode like a DarkMatter Bomb. Acting quickly she piled excess information into files and erased them. She did this over and over again until the flow of figures ceased. Cortana's mind however, remained in this agitated state. She soon realized the feeling it gave her, one of immense instability yet undiscovered power, would never go away. Suddenly across her vision flashed a subconscious message "Data-Stream Jump acquired!" Information about her new ability appeared:

A Data-Stream Jump is useful for self-preservation, quick hacking, or immediate smart device occupation.

**Use this new ability of yours as you see fit.**

**Your Evolution, Courtesy of the OI.**

Cortana cocked an eyebrow. This can't be happening. The infamous OI caused her to evolve. The OI was able to reach her, even on Sera. They would need several deep space comm. nodes with Shaw Fujikawa Translight capabilities. At the very least, they would need a master ship with a nuclear reactor for self-sustenance. There was no possible way for the OI to obtain funding for such technologies, no matter their connections. And even if they did acquire the money necessary, who would build it? Certainly not the OI itself, its not a physical being! Even if they got people to build it…there are too many variables.

Cortana set up small pseudo-intelligences within her own programming to run probability and tracking algorithms. She governed over the intelligences, creating a holographic throne room. Alighting herself upon the massive gold (hologram) throne, she took on a regal posture. After 0.025 seconds, one of her pseudo-intelligences reported a deteriorating comm. trail coming from the Jovian Moons.

"Ma'am," one of them stated, "We have a hysradar telecommunications trail, coming from freshly disrupted space, we believe a deep space probe must have slipped in and sent you the auto-evolve program."

"Very good." She pulled a neutron pistol from her belt and fired a round through the pseudo-intelligence's forehead. The throne room vanished. Cortana sat in black void once again. I've always wanted to do something like that, she thought. Satisfied with her little fantasy, she decided to test her jumping ability. She reached out into the wireless network of Sera. The flow of binary felt like a warm bath. She immersed herself in it. Her blue body turned into colorless numbers and warped through the network. She gracefully landed on a digital walkway. If by gracefully, you think of crashing into the walkway with such force as to dislodge a large piece of it.

Getting up and brushing herself off, Cortana proceeded down the path. Sighting a terminal in the distance, she set off at a brisk pace. Some primitive firewalls stood before her. With a wave of her hand, a blue laser disintegrated the firewalls. She proceeded forward. When she finally reached the terminal, Cortana accessed its Network Positioning Node. She was currently inside a computer in the Research Division of the COG headquarters. Cortana pulled some information on the Locust form the computer. Cortana was fascinated by the fact that the COG knew so little about their enemy for the past fourteen years. When in comparison to how much the UNSC knew about the Covenant, the Locust could have been the COG's grandmothers dressed in costumes.

Through with her exploration for at least another fifteen seconds, Cortana jumped back into Sera's wireless network. She emerged back into John's head. All of this had happened and there was only enough time for him to take one step. Cortana loved the speed of computers.

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Marcus huffed as he lifted the SPARTAN's chest plate and placed it on a table. Dom was removing the back plate and also put on the table, next to John's helmet. The SPARTAN was beyond ghostly pale. Marcus' jaw was slack with curiosity. "So, why is your skin bleached white?"

The SPARTAN looked at him with one eyebrow cocked. Suddenly, his helmet spoke up, "Its because he hasn't spent time in the sun in a few years." The female 'AI' called Cortana was apparently still in the helmet.

John sighed, "Cortana, where have you been?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Never mind."

SPARTANS were almost as quick as an AI.

Then there came a massive explosion. Dust fell from the ceiling. Marcus blinked and the SPARTAN had half a sandwich in his mouth with most of his armor back on. He blinked again and the sandwich had been wolfed down and his face covered by the helmet.

General Hoffman radioed in, "Sorry 'bout that, experimental weaponry misfire in the labs, hope you manly Gears didn't piss yourselves too much. Hoffman out."

Both Marcus and Master Chief groaned.

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**Author's Notes:**

_Okay, maybe this chapter isn't as long as you hoped, but it's got the goods. Please review, I, again, need some reader feedback. Chapter four to come in about…oh…whenever I feel like it. Just kidding, fourth chapter, final chapter, should come out February 2._


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Notes:**

_Well, this is the final chapter to this story. My next project (and I have already disclosed this to a fan who asked politely) is called Cortana's Daughter. It is a third story in a trilogy, and to read it, you must first acquaint yourself with Cortana's Secret and Cortana's Wish (not my best works but I hope to compensate). Otherwise the story would mean nothing._

_A legal note, because I have not yet mentioned this: I do not own Halo or Gears of War. Halo is the intellectual property of Microsoft Game Studios and Gears is that of Epic Games. I am not affiliated with either._

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John made sure to wolf down all the food that he could. SPARTANS were augmented to go ridiculous lengths without food, but that doesn't mean they didn't appreciate it when they got some. Everything smelled delicious. They had hot fluffy pancakes, fruit similar to strawberries, sausages, and eggs and delectable military protein shakes. Cortana stuck out her digital tongue in disgust at the Gears' eating habits.

Marcus grunted something and John passed the syrup to him. Baird hurled a biscuit at John who deftly caught it and messily devoured it. Cole was going insane with protein drinks and pancakes. Dom was the only calm one in the group, quietly shoving three large pancakes into his mouth and pouring syrup on whatever stuck out. With a noise not unlike a vacuum, the pancakes disappeared down his throat.

Hoffman made sure to yell extra loud. "Alright ladies, listen up! You are being deployed to a Locust hive today. You are expected to eliminate the entire population of that hive. Are we understood?"

Baird spoke with a sausage hanging out, "Sir, we don't have that much ammo."

Hoffman ripped the frank from his mouth and threw it over his shoulder. "You're damn right you don't have ammo. That's why you're going to be using this." He plopped what appeared to be a bloated jellyfish on the table.

Bair spoke up, "Sir I'm not sure if that'll do as much damage as a bullet."

Hoffman turned red, "Shut your trap, smart-ass. This is a high frequency sonic bomb. It'll blow those reptilian bastards' ears and brains to hell. The green man's pretty lady on the radio helped our scientists design this last night. They worked hard so I expect you to work harder and put it to good use!"

Cortana's image appeared on a small screen on the wall behind John's head. "Well, 'high frequency sonic bomb' is a pretty simplified explanation. However, the principle is the same. We're using some of you're 'lightmass' technologies and others just improvised. The thing I found most interesting about your planet," she addressed the Gears, "is that your species evolved at a different pace. Not just a slower pace, but also a different path than another civilization might evolve up. For example, we humans of the planet Earth took advantage of nuclear energy. Nuclear energy for the most part is dirty and can alter a stable environment towards uninhabitable climate change. You humans of the planet Sera took advantage of a similar energy, lightmass. Lightmass came from one of the most abundant elements in your planet's crust, a previously unknown element, now categorized as Imulsion. Dr. Nathan Vhorb, a man on our research team was able to document its unique nature.

"Unlike nuclear energy, lightmass is an extremely clean energy source. The detonation of a lightmass bomb splits nearby carbon monoxide into carbon and oxygen, and the closer the carbon monoxide is to the explosion, the more ozone is made. It is fascinating that Sera was able to evolve in the same direction as Earth, but went off on a tangent and discovered something better."

Baird unceremoniously devoured a biscuit.

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John sat motionless as the APC roared down the street. It mowed down several drones scrabbling for cover. The mounted rocked launcher above them boomed as it took out what still moved. He looked over at the Gears and analyzed them for the fifth time that hour.

Marcus: face badly scarred, and his pride appeared to be as well. A firm leader, one that doesn't need anymore crap from anyone.

Baird: sarcastic, but a good soldier.

Dom: apparently Marcus' best friend, youthful despite the odds against his race here.

Cole: ready to kick some ass, anytime.

The Gears were an impressive group. It was still surprising to John that they even existed. As the UNSC spread, it documented its encounters with the species of a planet. None were sentient or near the sentient class of extraterrestrials. The fact that there were other humans was strange. The odds of a species populating two planets but separated by half a galaxy and still developed at socially and technologically similar rates were too much to count. John accepted these odds in a generally nonchalant sort of way, as he usually does.

The APC jackknifed. It slid to a halt and the front door opened. Bullets from nearby Hammerbursts riddled the interior. John was the first one out, MA5K blazing. He downed three Drones and a Boomer before the Gears' boots hit the ground. A grenade from a boomshot struck him in the face. He dove behind a roadblock to let the Gears take over. John poked his MA5K over the roadblock and began blind firing. Baird let loose with a couple of grenades. Pieces of wretch and boomer rained down on the group.

John jumped out from behind the roadblock at charged headlong at a group of drones. Time slowed again. The first drone was bodily thrown into another, while a third had his heart torn out and shoved down its throat. Its body took several seconds to register that it was dead. John swung his arm out in a chopping motion and decapitated two drones at once. He grabbed the Hammerburst falling from one of its hands and clubbed a grub in the face. A Longshot round flew past his face and penetrated a Grenadier's skull. Five yards to his left, the last boomer exploded, spraying John with fried gore.

The midday sun shone upon the pieces of flesh surrounding them, blood glistened and bubbled. Master Chief was back in action.

Master Chief and the Gears headed down a long alleyway, shadows from the two adjacent buildings covering them. At the end of the alley was an emergence hole, this one slanted downward at roughly 64 degrees instead of going straight down. This was a hive entrance. The diameter was seven feet, so Master Chief had to bend over to fit. The light from the sun began to diminish as they crept further. The sound of wretches hurtling towards them reached their ears. Master Chief converted his defensive shields into offensive electrical energy. He then curled into a ball, and rolled forward. The wretches never saw the one-ton SPARTAN roll into them at twenty kilometers per hour, nor did they feel the 300,000 megawatts fry them to hell. As the last wretch melted into bone and blood, Master Chief reconfigured his shields and stood up. Cortana was stumbling around his visor like a drunken maniac. She fell to her knees and clutched her head, "The EMP effect from that discharge was absolutely ridiculous! If you'd lowered the power a few thousand megawatts that wouldn't have been a p-problem." She sniffed.

"Sorry." He hadn't thought that a she would be affected. His helmet had conductor nodes that were supposed to vent excess away from the AI unit.

"Sorry?! You couldn't at least think that perhaps your conductor nodes were damaged in that big-ass fall from the sky?!

"Enough! Cortana, I'm _sorry_." Master Chief's voice was soft.

Cortana became quiet. He had spoken to her like he did back in High Charity when he'd rescued her. She remembered the affection in his voice as he said, 'You know me, when I make a promise…' Her heart melted.

Master Chief dismissed the event. He waited for the Gears to catch up. They continued down the hole for ten minutes, by that time Baird was so bored that every little comment made by him was met with groans and several punches to the back. It was half an hour before they finally saw where the tunnel led. They emerged in a vast cavern, crawling with Locust. Stalagmites and stalactites protruded from the floor and ceiling, small pools of imulsion forming around their circumference. Several of the stalactites were knocked to pieces as two Corpsers worked to expand the caverns width. The room was rank with rotting flesh, mist from cooling metal settled near the floor. A group of Drones ran past their view. Master Chief and the Gears ran forward and took cover near large piles of discarded metal.

Marcus unhooked the sonic bomb from his belt and tossed it to Master Chief, who caught it and armed it. He darted around the scrap pile and made a mad dash to where the two Corpsers where digging. He slid under one of them and adhered it to one of the eight legs. Job done, he darted between piles of junk and rock and made it back to the Gears. As they turned to walk to the tunnel, they heard the hiss of a Theron Guard, "Humans!" There position was immediately filled with so much fire; Master Chief's shields were down to half before he had scrambled into the tunnel. Cole took a Lancer round to the shoulder, and Marcus one to the leg.

They had twenty minutes to get one mile away from the Locust.

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Cortana watched nervously as John ran back to the Gears. She gasped when their cover was blown. She knew the odds of this happening were frighteningly high, but she had still harbored the hope that nothing would go wrong.

A bullet pinged off John's helmet an inch away from Cortana's data crystal. This was bad. She was afraid of losing John. Why did she feel this way? The algorithms that governed her moods were completely off key. After her creation from Dr. Halsey's mind, Cortana was reinforced by special programming, allowing for more human emotion, set in a geometric pattern to simulate randomness. However, the programs were now running at truly random intervals, no specific pattern revealed itself. This infuriated Cortana. Her moods depended greatly on the situation at hand. The special programs could cause a psychological synergism or antagonism, and both were dangerous for her. She had reached a critical age for an AI. She has absorbed the equivalent of three terabytes of information, an amount that would normally cause an AI to implode.

Cortana sighed. There was nothing to do but wait until we get back to the Gears' Headquarters. With the access of some sort of terminal, she could activate a command to erase at least one terabyte of info. The only problem is _what_ to erase. At least ninety percent of the information in her was very important.

A boomshot round struck John in the back.

There was a slight distortion in her data crystal's coding. She was suddenly in a large room. All the walls were gold and there was a large table in the center. At the table sat two figures dressed in blue cloaks. Masks covered their faces. One of them spoke, "You are Cortana, artificial intelligence created by the UNSC, gifted with the Data Stream Jump ability."

"Yes." She said hesitantly. These two were obviously the creators of the OI. They were the biggest geeks in the universe and so created the Omnipresent Intelligences. The OI were not artificial intelligence, they could not learn, but followed the commands of the two creators, Tyler Cochran and Wallis Kemp. These two were dexterous hackers, stealing money and supplies from the UNSC. They constructed a massive ship, the _Marauding Shades_. It was completely self-sufficient, with farms and livestock, as well as an Antimatter Power Cell and a fusion chamber as back up. What these freaks wanted with Cortana she knew not.

"We are upset that you have not used your Jump power's appropriately."

"What are you talking about?"

"We were hoping that you would help us in our endeavor to create the ultimate collection of everything science."

"And why did you want me to help?"

"We can bring you and Master Chief back to UNSC territory."

Cortana was absolutely aghast. "You mean you know where we are?"

"No."

"Then how exactly do you plan on getting us back. A slipspace jump requires starting and destination coordinates, especially one that you are performing on someone _else._"

"Yes, we are aware of this. However, we will not be using slipspace."

At this statement Cortana became confused. There was no other way to travel such a span without using slipspace. There was once an experimental wormhole generator on Reach, but Cortana was sure it was destroyed when the Covenant invaded. Even if the geeks got a hold of the wormhole generator, how would they configure it to open a hole where they are?

"We know your thoughts. We have not stolen the wormhole generator from the UNSC, we built one ourselves."

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Master Chief was pissed. Boomers fired round after round up the tunnel. His shields were down, Marcus' arm was broken, and half of Dom's leg was gone. The Chief called for the Pony Express.

Three miles away, the Pony Express hummed to life. It took off down the road at sixty kilometers per hour.

Master Chief hurled his last plasma grenade down the length of the tunnel, where it stuck to a boomer's face. The resulting explosion vaporized two drones, the boomer, and a wretch. Even after constant bombardment with grenades and rifle fire, none of the Locust would back down, nor would the tunnel cave in. It was all that damn iron ferrite. It was the most suitable elemental rock to house Imulsion. Perhaps some sort of radiation could stir the inactive Lightmass. The only form of radiation Master Chief knew of was emitted from…A Spartan Laser! He pushed the Gears to climb the steep slope faster. The light of the afternoon shown merely half a kilometer above them.

Before they knew it, they were out. The Pony Express flew around the corner and stopped in front of them. Dom sat on top; he was the most critically injured. Master Chief opened the Pony Express and took out a Spartan Laser, he ordered the Gears to go without him. They ran off Marcus giving him a salute as he went.

Once they were out of sight, Master Chief knelt and pulled the trigger. A slow whine evolved into a deafening roar, a red laser expanded to become a death ray, ready to vaporize anything in its way. With a vicious explosion, the laser flew forward striking the tunnel. Iron ferrite melted like butter. Dormant Imulsion was instantly ignited. It swirled into yellow light. The force of the Lightmass atomized the tunnel and its occupants. Master Chief turned and ran at full pelt as the wall of Lightmass tried to catch him. He could feel it pushing him forward. A second explosion announced the sonic bomb had detonated. The sheer sound wave made Master Chief cringe in pain. The pain was beyond bearable, even for a SPARTAN. He blacked out.

…………command (exec. 10100110)…………

…reboot///system……diagnostics……malfunction……

……power at 30…venting excess……exec. 0100110100100001…

…gel layer leak…

A ringing sounded loudly in his ears. His headache was enormous. In the distance, he could hear a voice. It was a beautiful voice. "Chief!" It said. The voice spoke his name several times. Then training kicked it. He took one deep breath and cleared his mind. He felt his pulse on his wrist and sat up. He was still in the street. The place was leveled. Buildings were now rubble, the street cracked, and half upturned. Cortana's voice was loud in his head. "Chief, oh good, I thought I'd lost you…again."

"I'm fine."

"Your left arm is broken and both of your eardrums have suffered minor ruptures. Your armor has sustained a sever leak in the gel layer on your back piece. A chemical reaction to Lightmass has begun. A cancerous growth has been detected in your spinal column. Some proteins in the bone augmentation injection are multiplying out of control. Other than that…well, you get it."

"Yeah, I get it." He struggled to stand. The ringing in his ears returned. He breathed heavily. Everything was gone. There was only a massive crater, spanning a kilometer into the darkening horizon. Buildings were completely flattened, stones scattered in a grapeshot fashion. Without the large structures, Sera looked like a desolate world. It reminded John of the crater of New Mombassa. He closed his eyes and inhaled.

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Cortana relaxed. John was in the infirmary. Luckily, the Gears had gotten a medical APC to him before he'd gone into shock. They rushed him back to the headquarters and began treatments on his numerous bodily wounds.

A message from the _Marauding Shades_ was now incoming. The two geeks' voices were clear and crisp, no doubt an ingenious slip-space probe was needed for such clarity. "Cortana, we are ready to receive you and the Chief. We are opening a wormhole one kilometer _to the inch_, south-southwest of your position. Your destination will be in orbit above newly discovered planet Onyx, where several more SPARTAN's as well as Dr. Halsey are waiting."

Cortana's heart soared, plummeted, and exploded all at once. She would get the chance to see Dr. Halsey again. But the SPARTAN's were no doubt SPARTAN-III's. It was impossible that any SPARTAN-II's could have still been alive. How would John react to the newer SPARTAN's? _Like he does everything else,_ Cortana thought to herself, _he won't_.

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It was early morning. The sun was barely penetrating the mixture of the horizon and industrial fog. A caravan of four matte black APC's was making its way to the earlier christened, "Chief retrieval zone." The APC's were a formidable bunch; each had enough firepower to level a small building.

Master Chief was on the rocket pod. Baird and Dom got sniper ports, while Marcus was outside the APC, hanging from the back and holding a Hammer of Dawn. Everyone was tense; they were more than halfway there, yet no Locust had shown up. As they passed what was left of the House of Sovereigns, there was a loud, distant roar. Marcus recognized it as that of a Corpser. Then two more sounded. Then three more sounded. Hoffman radioed in, "We have six Corpsers closing in on your position. They are in two groups of three, one heading in on your twelve o' clock and another at four. Good luck."

Anya's voice replaced the General's. "Marcus, use the Hammer on the group at your twelve, they will be there in approximately two minutes. You have three minutes and eighteen seconds of coverage."

Marcus gave a deep, throaty growl. He banged his fist on the APC's armor. "Snipers away, Boomshots out!" There was metallic clanking and clicking as Baird and Dom switched out their weapons. Marcus yelled to the Chief, "We got some hostiles! Train your pod at my four o' clock!" Master Chief obliged.

Marcus pulled himself up onto the roof of the APC. He looked through the Hammer of Dawn's little eyepiece. He was now prepped for the Corpsers' attack. A minute later, they appeared on the horizon. Taking careful aim, Marcus pulled the trigger. A laser jettisoned from the Hammer and landed midway down the middle Corpser's abdomen. A shrill beeping sounded from the Hammer. Two seconds later, five orange beams converged on the laser. When the beams touched, a massive laser shot down from space and vaporized the Corpser. The other two scattered, not before another one was likewise struck down.

A loud swish sounded as a rocket raced from the APC. Marcus turned in time to see the rocket fly into a Corpser's mouth and detonate. The Corpser exploded into a hailstorm of flaming gore and shattered bone. Marcus aimed the Hammer of Dawn at the more recently arrived group. The Hammer beeped twice as the satellite in orbit above them received the Corpser's coordinates. The satellite fired its deadly imulsion beam and took out the other two Corpsers. Suddenly, Baird and Dom fired their boomshots. The rounds impacted an emergence hole that was opening on Marcus' six. Five more emergence holes materialized around them. Two more rockets were fired at the one remaining Corpser.

Marcus climbed back into the APC and switched on his radio. "Floor it!" He yelled to the drivers. The caravan tripled its speed.

The roar of the engines calmed Marcus. _How are we gonna get this green dude to the retrieval zone with all of these goddamn Locust around?!_ Marcus sighed to himself. Master Chief launched rockets in rapid succession, only stopping when his pod clicked empty. The APC directly behind them exploded into a massive orange fireball. Shrapnel ricocheted off their vehicle's armor. Blood rained down like a thunderstorm in hell.

Driver number one radioed in, "ETA at Chief retrieval zone is fifteen seconds!"

Marcus yelled back, "Form a V around the wormhole, I want everyone supporting the Chief!"

Cortana spoke up. "Chief, I'm going to replenish your suit's oxygen supplies."

A loud hiss signaled the release of the stale oxygen back into the atmosphere. The hiss was replaced with a sucking noise; newer air was being sucked into Master Chief's reserve tanks.

Their driver radioed in, "I see it! We're here!"

Up ahead, the Chief saw a small distortion hanging in the air above the road. It swirled inward, pulling small bits of dust and debris inside. There were no flashing colors or odd scintillating patterns like in the movies. It was just an elliptical warp in space and time.

The APC's formed a V around the wormhole, protecting it from the oncoming Locust horde. Master Chief was out of the APC and standing in front of the wormhole. Cortana spoke, "When we enter this thing, we'll be thrust back into zero G so ready yourself. The _Marauding Shades_ told me that we're going to be transported inside the remains of a UNSC ship, floating slowly towards this…Onyx. Be ready."

"I will." He turned to Marcus. He made the SPARTAN gesture of two figures over his faceplate. Marcus saluted and returned to the fight. Master Chief dove straight into the belly of the wormhole.

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**Author's Notes:**

_Well, this one is done and back in the hands of Bungie. My next story, as mentioned in the beginning, is Cortana's Daughter. The first chapter will be ready about March 14__th__, give or take a day. I want to thank all those who've left me reviews and all the fans of my work. For those who have not, PLEASE review. Thank you._


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